Keeping up Appearances
by ladia2287
Summary: Severus' friends expect him to marry a nice, respectable, pureblood. Only one problem; Severus can't stand any of the girls that his friends consider 'respectable', and still daydreams about marrying Lily Evans. That is, until he notices Astarte Lestrange, a quiet girl who seems to defy expectation and is certainly not your stereotypical Slytherin.
1. Prologue

_A Word of warning to canon purists; this story, while following the timeline of the canon, is very AU. As far as I am aware, Severus Snape never married (personally I can't see him being able to bear the choice to do so, even if for the reasons outlined in the later chapters of this story). Whilst I always appreciate feedback, I would prefer flamers to keep their opinions to themselves._

_And for my fans, who have patiently waited a very long time indeed to hear from me, I hope you will enjoy this offering, and I also hope that this time, I will have the time and patience to finish it. Enjoy :)_

**Prologue**

The first sound that he issued as he woke that morning was a loud groan. Not only had he overslept, but a glance outside the window told him that the weather was going to be miserable. He could see as he looked down at the narrow street that it was already starting to flood, and the steel grey clouds indicated that the rain was unlikely to stop any time soon. On top of that, the thick, unseasonable mist had not abated in the night. If anything, it had gotten worse.

_Only an issue if you plan to go out,_ he thought to himself, and of course, that is exactly what his plans for the day had entailed. With only a few days to go before term began, he still needed to buy a few supplies. Of course, he needn't travel in the rain, but Apparition was sure to draw attention to himself, and given the current state of society, attention was the last thing he needed right now. He had more important things to worry about, such as how his employer expected him to fulfil his promise and not get himself killed in the process.

"Severus dear, are you up yet?" a woman's voice called cautiously up the stairs. He groaned again. She knew there was absolutely nothing between them; that they had married simply because it was what was expected of them, and it annoyed him that she insisted on at least pretending to be an affectionate and dutiful wife.

"Yes Astarte, I'm up," he called down to her as he left the room and began to descend towards the kitchen. He could tell that breakfast was almost ready because he could smell it and found it hard to suppress a smile. In spite of his frequently cold attitude towards their marriage, he couldn't help but admire her cooking skills, especially knowing that she came from a family where such a task was considered a chore to be saved for house-elves.

Astarte smiled slightly as he sat down and she placed a large plate covered in scrambled eggs, bacon, tomatoes and wild mushrooms in front of him. "About time. It was starting to get cold," she mentioned lightly.

Severus watched her discreetly as he ate. She must have already finished hers because instead of sitting opposite him, she turned to the sink, where a rack of clean, dry dishes sat, and began putting them away in their respective cupboards.

Astarte had never been much good at what she called 'housekeeping spells', a fact that he, Severus, had tried to change many times. But every attempt had resulted in one losing their patience, and their temper, at the other. Either Astarte would stubbornly insist that she was perfectly capable of managing without them, or Severus would coldly remind her that completing such tasks the 'muggle' way would result in them losing respectability as well as credibility within their social circle. Astarte had long since learned that it was not wise to retort with the fact that she couldn't care less what a pack of racist murderers thought of her. Now she simply glared at him in silence and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

As he watched, Severus couldn't help but remember the painful turn of events that would kick-start a kind of domino effect that resulted in the pair walking together down the aisle. It was certainly a strange tale indeed, even if the beginning of the story was a fact that he would prefer to forget ever happened.


	2. Twenty-two Years Earlier

_**Twenty-two years earlier**_

_You call everyone of my birth mudblood. Why should I be any different?_

The words that Lily had spoken as he'd tried to beg forgiveness rang in his head, as clearly as though she was standing right next to him. Several hours had passed, and yet he could not get the broken tone of her voice out of his mind, nor the look that had been on her face. It had not been anger or even heartbreak; that he might have been able to live with. But the way she'd looked at him; it was almost as though she was afraid of him. It had broken his heart, the way she backed away slightly when he'd tried to reassure her that he hadn't meant to say it. He'd felt helpless as she'd walked away from him.

A cold breeze blew past and Severus shivered, pulling his robe tighter. It was well and truly past curfew, but he didn't care. If anyone noticed that he was missing, they'd likely assume he'd gotten caught in one of Potter's pranks.

After another hour or so Severus decided to head back, sneaking into the common room a little before midnight. Students were generally in bed by now so it was a surprise for him to notice a solitary girl reading by the fireplace, dark brown curls falling lightly over her shoulders. He recognised her as Astarte Lestrange, a girl two years below himself who seldom bothered about the goings-on around her. Without making any sign of acknowledgement, he sunk down into a chair near the window, staring at his palms.

"My brother was asking about you earlier," the girl mentioned after a few minutes, her voice somewhat quiet and shy. An unusual trait for a Slytherin student from an old, pureblood family.

"Yeah?" Severus asked, somewhat more aggressively than usual. He was not in the mood to be receiving messages from his classmates right now. "What did he want?"

Astarte shrugged. "Wanted to talk to you I guess. I didn't ask questions; I figured it was homework-related or something," she muttered softly, turning back to her book. "He only just went to bed a few minutes ago; if you go now he'll probably still be awake," she added.

This was hardly surprising. Rabastan Lestrange was not generally in the habit of going to bed early. Severus quickly thanked the girl and went down into the dormitory to see what the other boy wanted.


	3. First Attempt At Moving On

_A/N: Hope you are all enjoying my latest reading project so far. If so, please let me know by leaving a review. Thank you :)_

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It had been a week since Severus and Lily had fought. And every day of that week he'd been driven to distraction by Rabastan Lestrange's frequent lectures.

_Come on Snape, she's only a mudblood. Clever guy like you could have your pick of pureblood girls._

Shaking his head, Severus marched towards the library. Classes had ended for the day and the last thing he wanted was to be cornered again. Numerous friends of his had taken it upon themselves to offer him 'solace' by insisting he allow them to set him up on dates, but he'd refused every single one. He did _not_ want to end up with a vain snob like Narcissa Black, and that was exactly the kind of girl his friends would try to get him to go out with. All he wanted was to have Lily back. But she wasn't even looking at him these days, and whenever he tried to approach her, she would abruptly turn and storm away.

Upon reaching the library Severus hoped to find a secluded table to sit at by himself, but to his annoyance almost every table was full. Resigning himself to the fact that he would not be able to study alone today, he sat at the one table that wasn't overcrowded. Astarte Lestrange was sitting there by herself; not exactly and ideal situation, but he was fairly sure she wouldn't bother him unless there was a life-threateningly important reason and he knew that she also preferred to work in solitude and silence. It seemed a fair enough compromise, given that the alternative was to return to the common room where he was sure to be greeted by yet more 'potential girlfriend' recommendations.

"This seat taken?" he asked quietly. Astarte glanced up and gave a shy smile, shaking her head. As soon as Severus was seated, the younger girl returned her attention to her work. Severus pulled out his homework, a dreadfully complicated Transfiguration essay, and began writing, pausing every so often to re-read his work or check some fact or other in his textbook. After over an hour of labouring, he finished and set the work aside. Astarte was still sitting opposite him, feverishly scribbling notes as she read what appeared to be her History of Magic textbook.

Severus watched her discreetly for a few minutes, somewhat intrigued by her. She couldn't exactly be called 'pretty', but he couldn't help admitting to himself that the way her dark brown curly hair tumbled over her shoulders was kind of cute. He knew from Rabastan's occasional ramblings about his family that she averaged 'Exceeds Expectations' for most of her subjects, although she struggled to even scrape a basic pass mark in Charms and Herbology. He didn't know what her best subject was, but guessed that it was probably History, as he had heard Rabastan complaining about her ambition to become a Magical Historian, saying that it was 'the sort of career a stupid mudblood might aspire to'.

Severus also knew that, unlike most of their Housemates, Astarte did not take pleasure from tormenting others. In fact, only the day before she had told off a group of second-years and threatened to report them to a teacher when she came across them attempting to hex a first-year muggle born boy.

All in all, Astarte was definitely not a typical Third-Year Slytherin. She wasn't even a typical Lestrange. For a fleeting moment, Severus wondered if it might be worthwhile getting to know her a bit better. If nothing else, it might get his friends off his back about finding a girlfriend. He hesitated for almost a minute before clearing his throat. Astarte glanced up briefly and was slightly startled to find the older boy staring straight at her.

"You doing anything after class tomorrow?" he blurted out before he could stop himself.


	4. Surprised and Embarrassed

**_A/N: Took me a few days, but it seems I finally have something worth publishing, and here it is; the next chapter. Please enjoy (and remember to review)_**

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_Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! What in Merlin's name were you even thinking?_

Severus silently berated himself as he stormed out of the library. Poor Astarte had been too surprised and possibly too embarrassed to articulate a response to his sudden outburst. The older boy hadn't even given her time to let the blush cover her face before he'd gotten up, mumbling apologies, and left.

_Of course she isn't going to be interested in you! Why on Earth would she be?_

Scowling at his reflection in a mirror as he walked past, he was determined to get to the Slytherin Common Room and fight his way to bed if he had to, just so long as he didn't have to speak to another soul that day. Finally he got to his dormitory and slammed the door shut. Satisfied that he was, finally, alone, he allowed himself to relax a little, tossing his bag on the floor by his bed and sitting down to pull his shoes off.

Severus didn't know what had possessed him to try to ask Astarte out. She was two years younger than him and other than the polite 'hello' muttered in passing, they hardly ever spoke to each other. All he knew was that he didn't think he could ever face her again after this. It would be too awkward.

Within seconds he realised that this was not practical. Severus visited the Lestranges at least once every holidays, sometimes staying entire weekends in Summer. Never associating again with Astarte Lestrange would be about as easy as teaching a Squib to block an Unforgivable Curse. With a sigh he resigned himself to the fact that, sooner or later, he was going to have to have some form of interaction with the girl again. The best he could hope for was that Astarte would sense his own embarrassment and decide not to tell anyone; he was already teased enough by his classmates without them finding out that he'd tried to ask out a _Third Year_ and hadn't even had the guts to stick around long enough for her to respond.


End file.
